Cave Spring Vineyard<\/a> says despite the winter damage which affected the size of the crop, the fruit quality was exceptional.<\/p>\n\u201cWe had some dry conditions but a nice amount of rain and timely as well. When we were just getting into drought stress, we got a bit of precipitation,\u201d he says.\u00a0 \u201cWe had a beautiful harvest window and we picked some of the best Riesling in the history of our company this year. It\u2019s exceptional stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n
Vintage variation plays a significant role in Canada\u2019s cool climate wine regions, where vineyards are situated between 30- and 50-degrees latitude north. Though this may be a deterrent for some, Demarco not only embraces said variability, it\u2019s part of why he chose to make wine in Niagara.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that challenge of the variability of each vintage and the precision that is required to follow the grapes from bud break all the way to the finish \u2014 understanding what the vines are going through and then adjusting your approach in order to maximize any given season,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Gorman says the hands-on experience she had during the Certificate in Grape and Wine Technology (OEVC) program in both vineyards and the teaching winery at the Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) was invaluable.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrock offered a much more scientific, in-depth approach to the \u2018why\u2019 of how things happen during winemaking,\u201d she says. \u201cKnowing the \u2018why\u2019 behind certain actions allows me to adapt to different conditions, since every year is always a little different.\u201d<\/p>\n
With family from the east coast, Gorman felt Nova Scotia was a natural fit.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love that the industry here is about where the Niagara wine industry was when I was growing up,\u201d she says. \u201cNow, I get to experience the innovation and growth of a wine industry from this side of it and it’s very exciting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Robinson, who was a pre-medical student before pivoting to winemaking, says the OEVI program helped fulfil both his scientific and artistic sides.<\/p>\n
\u201cBrock gives you the analytical and scientific tools to draw on, so that you can troubleshoot and trust your palate,\u201d he says. \u201cIt gives you the knowledge to assess anything that is going on in the vintage, whether it is in the vineyard or winery.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prior to his career in winemaking, Robinson was a sommelier in fine-dining restaurants, giving him a unique perspective on blending and refining his wines from berry to bottle.<\/p>\n
\u201cTasting as a sommelier versus tasting as a winemaker is a completely different skill set, but it’s similar enough that you can adapt it very quickly,\u201d he says. \u201cIt’s just a different hat, is the best way of putting it, instead of assessing wine for ageability, you’re assessing whether there’s anything that’s kind of going sideways that needs to be stick handled or analyzed.\u201d<\/p>\n
For more information on grape and wine undergraduate degrees (OEVI and OEVC) and CCOVI programming, visit ccovi.ca<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the hustle of harvest comes to a close, winemakers shift their focus from the vineyard to the cellar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":75,"featured_media":82337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[119,41,1,4],"tags":[12233,61,5870,855,12235,1478,7015,12234,3353,5136,6092,2104],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82336"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/75"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=82336"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82336\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82338,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/82336\/revisions\/82338"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/82337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=82336"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=82336"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=82336"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}